The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill

In Judy Irving's The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, North Beach poet and street musician Mark Bittner lived rent-free for three years in a small cottage on San Franci... more >

In Judy Irving's The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, North Beach poet and street musician Mark Bittner lived rent-free for three years in a small cottage on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill while trying to discover his life's direction. His impatience ended when three green conures with red crowns showed up on his stairwell in North Beach. The next day twenty-six came, having either escaped from their owners or been intentionally released. Now they were in the city looking for gardens and parks, and people to feed them and they found their loving caretaker in Mark Bittner, a meeting seemingly meant to happen. Irving filmed the pony-tailed Bittner for almost a year, following him from his days trying to scrape up enough money for an espresso at Café Trieste in North Beach to the more comfortable present. The film is not just about the birds but about a gentle soul, his bond with nature, and a loving witness to the events.

Bittner claims that each bird has a distinct personality and he gives them names such as Connor, a blue-crowned conure, Olive, a mitred conure and her friend Gibson, Pushkin who stole Olive from her friend Gibson. It is sad when Mark's favorite bird, the only blue-crowned conure, is snatched away by a hawk and we mourn when any of the birds die. Bittner describes how the birds make it clear to him that we are all one and that our separateness is an illusion, like a waterfall that separates into many drops before coming together at the bottom. The beautiful birds opened up a new world for Bittner and Irving and may do so for you as well. They have now found the Right Living together and we are all the richer for it.
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